Port Ellen 24 Years Old 1982 Cask #DL 3652 (Douglas Laing)

Single malt Port Ellen, an independent Douglas Laing bottling at 24 year old, from 1982, drawn from cask DL 3652 and bottled at 50%. Just 228 bottles were filled. Port Ellen, founded in 1825 on the windswept south of Islay, was shut by DCL in 1983. The Port Ellen maltings survived the closure and still supply Islay.

The malt was peated hard over Islay peat cut from Duich Moss, giving a coastal smoke threaded with lemon. The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills with water from the lochs. Maturation in Oloroso sherry laid smoked dried fruit over the peat. Well past twenty years the peat has mellowed to soft embers, the malt grown waxy and elegant. Long, cool maturation in Islay warehouses lets the smoke knit slowly with the oak. Three Islay distilleries proved one too many, and this was the one to close.

At a hearty 50% it carries real weight. The Oloroso brings smoked fig, raisin and walnut, and soft coconut and vanilla from the oak, while a refined peat reek carries oily lemon, brine and a lanolin wax. It is elegant and deep, the peat folded into the malt. The close is slow, soft peat over wax. This is a piece of Islay legend in the glass.